


Non-Stop

by Sohotthateveryonedied



Series: Whumptober 2020 [23]
Category: Batman (Comics), Batman - All Media Types, Catwoman (Comics), DCU (Comics), Robin (Comics)
Genre: Bonding, Exhaustion, Fluff, Gen, Good Parent Selina Kyle, Prompt: "Exhaustion", Protective Selina Kyle, Sick Tim Drake, Sleep Deprivation, Tim Drake Needs a Break, Whumptober 2020, and she's great at it, look selina will always be the batkids' stepmom whether she and bruce are married or not, luckily selina is here to help, somebody needs to make this boy sleep, that's her job
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-24
Updated: 2020-10-24
Packaged: 2021-03-08 19:26:50
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,631
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27171727
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sohotthateveryonedied/pseuds/Sohotthateveryonedied
Summary: Selina didn’t think she could bring herself to like Tim so soon after losing Jason, but the little squirt has grown on her over time. He’s gentler, more quiet than she’s ever known a Robin to be. And yet, behind that wall, there’s a determination that might rival even Jason’s. He’s strong, this one. You wouldn’t see it if you weren’t looking closely enough, but it’s there. Selina sees that determination, that unwavering loyalty to his cause. She respects it.
Relationships: Tim Drake & Selina Kyle
Series: Whumptober 2020 [23]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1948297
Comments: 15
Kudos: 263





	Non-Stop

**Author's Note:**

> Whump Day 23: "Exhaustion"
> 
> Is this properly revised or edited? No. Am I too sleepy to care? Yes. (I'll try and remember to revise this in the morning but I have a terrible memory so it's in god's hands now fellas.)

Selina wasn’t planning on taking care of one of Bruce’s birds tonight, but when do things ever go as planned?   
  
Catwoman is climbing out of the window of a CEO whom she  _ definitely  _ didn’t beat the crap out of and leave to bleed out in the bathtub after figuring out he’s the kingpin of a trafficking ring. (It’s fine, she called the police and estimated they’ll arrive thirty seconds before his heart stops. It’s in fate’s hands now.)   
  
For her trouble, Selina takes the liberty of swiping a fancy antique she recognizes from Bruce’s case files. She’ll hand it off to him to return to the museum it was stolen from—not because she doesn’t want it, but because she is simply too tired to jump through all the hoops entailed whenever she steals something of worth, even if the person she stole it from is worthless.   
  
Selina is scaling the fire escape, nearly home free, when she spots a small green and red shape on a rooftop twenty feet below. Being in this business as long as she has, Selina would recognize one of her birds from miles away.    
  
Admittedly, she didn’t think she would take a shine to this one when he first joined up. Dick was a good kid, always gave in to the banter like it was his vice and let Selina buy him an ice cream once on a night when Bruce was preoccupied with a criminal who wasn’t Selina for once.   
  
Jason was her favorite. Still is. After all, he and Selina were so undeniably  _ alike _ to the point where she wondered if he wouldn’t have preferred being her sidekick instead of the uptight Batman’s. She and Jason shared an affinity for riling up the bat, making his life hell as much as they made it fun.    
  
She didn’t think she could bring herself to like Tim so soon after losing Jason, but the little squirt has grown on her over time. He’s gentler, more quiet than she’s ever known a Robin to be. And yet, behind that wall, there’s a determination that might rival even Jason’s. He’s strong, this one. You wouldn’t see it if you weren’t looking closely enough, but it’s there. Selina sees that determination, that unwavering loyalty to his cause. She respects it.   
  
Pocketing the antique for later, Selina goes over to the rooftop and the kid must be really out of it because he doesn’t even move when she approaches. Tim is curled up, wrapped in his cape like a burrito. His head lolls against the wall, eyes closed as he drools in his sleep.   
  
Selina has to nudge his leg with her boot to rouse him, making him jump up in an instant, eyes blown wide with panic.    
  
“Just me, kiddo.” Tim blinks, edginess dimming, but he doesn’t relax. Makes sense; the last time Selina caught the bird off his guard, he was dying of the plague. “You okay?”   
  
Tim rubs his eyes. “Yeah, I’m fine. Just…” He yawns, shakes his head. “Just a little power nap.”   
  
Selina tugs off her glove and feels his forehead with the back of her hand. “You’re burning up.”   
  
“It’s a cold.”   
  
Yeah, right. Now that she’s close enough she observes the paleness of his skin, the sheen of sweat on his forehead. “Does Bruce know you’re sick?”   
  
“I’m not sick. A cold barely counts as an illness.”   
  
“Uh-huh. Sure. How long have you been out here?”   
  
“Out on patrol, or out on this particular roof?”   
  
“Either one.”   
  
Tim scratches the back of his head. “Uh...pass.”   
  
Selina rolls her eyes. She puts her glove back on, gesturing over her shoulder and she makes for the roof’s edge. “Come on. Better to get you back before you keel over.”   
  
“Back where?”   
  
“My place, obviously.”   
  
“I can’t—I mean, I should check in with Bruce, give him my report. Plus I’ve got my dad at home, and it’s probably best that I—”   
  
“Kid. You look dead on your feet, and my apartment is only two blocks away. Would it kill you to put a little trust in me?”   
  
“It might.”   
  
She rolls her eyes. “Wiseass. Now, come on. I won’t bite.”   
  
Reluctantly, Tim obeys, which just goes to show how exhausted he is. As soon as they make it to her place, Selina directs him to the sofa before he can collapse and probably bash his skull on the coffee table on the way down. “Park it. I’ll get you some clothes.” She’s itchy to get out of her own uniform, anyway.   
  
Selina goes to her room and changes into a t-shirt and some yoga pants. She can shower later, once she knows the little tyke is taken care of. She manages to scrounge up a pair of sweats that will fit him, along with a shirt that Bruce left here the last time he stayed over and that she keeps forgetting to return. Two birds, one stone.   
  
She delivers the clothes to Tim, who miraculously hasn’t fallen asleep in the five minutes she was gone. “You hungry? My cuisine doesn’t measure up to the butler’s, but I’m a better cook than Bruce.”   
  
Tim shrugs, which is less than helpful.    
  
“That’s not an answer.” Another unhelpful shrug. He’s really fucking out of it. Does Bruce not let his partners sleep anymore? Selina huffs a sigh. “Fine. I’m making myself some grilled cheese. You can choose to have the second one or not.”   
  
She’s almost to the kitchen when she hears behind her, “Can I have tomato on mine?”   
  
Selina doesn’t let him see her smile. “Coming right up.”   
  
She wasn’t lying when she said she was a mediocre chef. She ends up burning one side of the first grilled cheese when she gets distracted feeding Isis, Otto, and Slinky. Dumb angels are insistent as hell when it comes to meal time. The second sandwich comes out slightly better, even if the bread is askew in what could call an artistic choice.   
  
She brings the plates into the living room and finds Tim right where he left him, this time with a cat on his lap and another sitting next to him while he pets her head. Both cats are purring their hearts out.   
  
“Someone’s popular.” She hands him his sandwich, then settles cross-legged on the couch beside him. “So, do you want me to call Bruce and tell him you’re sick now, or should I wait until you’re asleep that way you can’t stop me?”   
  
“I’m not sick,” he says around a mouthful of cheese and tomato. “Just a little tired. There’s a difference.”   
  
“Normal people don’t pass out on rooftops from missing naptime.”   
  
“I didn’t  _ pass out.  _ I just...got a little tired.”   
  
Selina watches him carefully, the way his eyelids droop even now. “How long has it been since you’ve slept?”   
  
He shrugs. “Not long. A couple days.”   
  
_ “Days?” _   
  
“It’s no big deal. Bruce skips sleep all the time and he does just fine.”   
  
“Everyone needs sleep, even mister tightass detective. And you’re a teenager. You need sleep.”   
  
“You’ve seen how hectic everything has gotten in the past few months. If I take even a few hours off, everything will fall apart. I’ve made my peace with that.”   
  
Selina sighs. She needs to have a talk with Bruce about instilling good habits in his partners instead of pulling them into his mindset of “all work and no play.” God knows it’s going to do more harm than good. “You need sleep,” she says.   
  
“I can squeeze in a nap during lunch tomorrow if you’re that strung out over it, but I can’t afford to take the night off. I haven’t even finished patrolling and if I lag behind, it’s going to screw everything up.”   
  
Selina can’t help but laugh. “Are you hearing yourself? What happened to Robins being light and carefree? You’re going to give yourself a hernia if you keep going like this.” Then again, at least the hospital stay would force him to take a break. Maybe she should look into ways to induce somewhat-serious illnesses, force the entire bat clan into a mandatory week off. It can’t be  _ that  _ illegal, right?   
  
“That was before. Now there’s so much to worry about after the earthquake and the Arkham breakout, and it’s Robin’s job to fix it. This is what I signed up for.”   
  
Yeesh, way to destroy your childhood. Go and make yourself a vigilante before puberty, see how that works out. Then again, Selina can’t exactly judge given her own childhood. At least then, she didn’t have to worry about anything but saving her own skin. Tim has the weight of the world on his shoulders, and he’s too naive to realize that even Atlas deserves a break.   
  
“I’ll make you a deal,” she says. “You sleep here tonight, and in return I won’t tell your boss that you skimped on a few measly hours of patrol. We can sit here and watch movies all night.”   
  
“Bruce isn’t going to be happy about me spending time here.”   
  
“If I recall correctly, Bruce certainly wasn’t complaining the last time  _ he  _ was in my apartment.”   
  
Tim covers his ears. “I’m going to pretend I didn’t hear that.”    
  
Selina snickers. “Have we got a deal?”   
  
“I’ll do four hours, but then I’ve got work to do.”   
  
“Eight.”   
  
“Five.”   
  
“Six.”   
  
“Fine.”   
  
Selina grins. “Good. Now come on, get over here.” She pats her shoulder invitingly. “Gotham will be just fine without Robin for one night.”   
  
Giving in, Tim rests his head on Selina’s shoulder. “Six hours. That’s it.”   
  
Selina cards her fingers through the kid’s hair as his weight settles against her, his eyes sliding shut. “Six hours,” she agrees as she picks up the remote and pulls up her Netflix watch list.   
  


**Author's Note:**

> [Feel free to mosey on down to my Tumblr!](http://sohotthateveryonedied.tumblr.com/)


End file.
